Having played sf2010 yesterday, it reminded me of it too, which is great. There's one thought on my mind looking at that screenshot: "I want to play this". That's also great.Now for critique, what would I change? Maybe add some details on the sky like horizontal black lines. Otherwise it looks pretty tight, congrats.

Jokes aside, your creative use of the attribute grid and hinting at details hidden by the black amoeba are impressive as always. The only critique I have is that the sky seems to clash with the foreground. There doesn't seem to be any other source of light, so it feels like the foreground should be warmer and darker to go with the sunset look. Just a thought.

Thanks, all! Detailing the sky is something i've attempted more than once and didn't feel satisfied with, so i simply removed those elements. I should give it at least another go and see if something good comes out of it. Assuming the skyline is two screens high, something should come above.

Oh. I was hoping the cold colouring would convey a sense of flourescence emanating from the amoebeous ground. Here's a snapshot from a previous stage. I believe what maybe got lost in the process is the sense of where the sunset is reaching and where there's shadow. But, it's also possible with the current tileset to get darker patches of ground like in the snapshot, aswell as areas where the light should touch. Maybe the flourescent effect shouldn't be all over the intended final level design. Colours might change, too.

Very useful critique, both! And the other nice comments are also very encouraging.

re: metroid - guilty as charged! Though gauauu proposed that it should be a vehicular platformer, so i think the connection to blaster master will become more evident, eventually. I also took inspiration from moon patrol which i view as an early precursor to blaster master (it has a very distinct aesthetic) but maybe that doesn't show under all the h.r.gigerism

I noticed this on your blog and the write-up makes some very good and useful reading on setting design.

Absolutely gorgeous. I especially dig the hue ramps in each sub-palette, and the red-highlighted sub-palettes used for ground and wall tiles that appear above the horizon, eliminating what would otherwise be a black, squared borders.

My only nitpick might be that the attribute borders are sometimes too noticeable (although other times well-hidden like for the bulbous stalks), giving it a bit of a ZX Spectrum feel. However, I don't know if it would be beneficial or a drawback to the overall palette to reduce the total color count to make those borders less noticeable, so take that with a grain of salt.

Also, since sprite contrast and scale are important, it'd be helpful to see these with some intended sprites on them.

Thanks! I thought it was helpful to me to try to think in terms of materials and history rather than just narrative function, so i wrote it down as a reminder. I'm glad you found it useful too, m-tee!

These drafts haven't passed consensus, but since you asked, here's a first go at it. Whether they'll be used or not, it might make for a good discussion and help me spot problems in an early stage.

Attachment:

vehicle.bmp [ 30.12 KiB | Viewed 5266 times ]

The premise is that the player character builds a vehicle out of the scraps of a landing/escape pod and whatever tech that can be found near the landing site. It's very uncertain how big of a role this possible feature will have. I wanted the world to feel large and imposing vs the player, so that's added into the soup (technically, it helps keep the spritecount down). Moreover, i think i'd want players to see their avatar at any point in the game. It makes for a slightly more vulnerable impression. If hit boxes are kept separate, the vehicle would provide some partial shielding for the player character. It might also be useful for quick mario-abandons-yoshi jump combos. The hover bike is meant have good horizontal speed but not quite the vertical reach of a simple jump/jetpack boost. Jumping off a moving bike would retain the horizontal momentum.

The 'red' colour on the vehicle can be changed or animated to reflect active properties or states. Active function, weaponry, or the status of some energy reserve, for example. Likewise, the colour of the suit can be changed to mark some change.

The premise is that the player character builds a vehicle out of the scraps of a landing/escape pod[...]Moreover, i think i'd want players to see their avatar at any point in the game. It makes for a slightly more vulnerable impression. If hit boxes are kept separate, the vehicle would provide some partial shielding for the player character. It might also be useful for quick mario-abandons-yoshi jump combos.

So far, I'm getting a Blaster Master vibe.

Quote:

The hover bike is meant have good horizontal speed but not quite the vertical reach of a simple jump/jetpack boost.

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